Speeding Cars
by jisforjava
Summary: They held hands as they walked into a world full of judgment.Read and Review.
1. Rows of Speeding Cars

A/N: I know this is a very UC couple, but please give this story a chance and review…Tell me what you think. I want to try to make this believable in only a slight ooc way.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gilmore Girls or the lyrics from "Speeding Cars"

Lorelai sat on the gazebo quietly. Once again, she had ended an awful relationship. After Luke, it was Chris, and now it was no one. She and Chris had ended yesterday after she had discovered something especially grisly.

_Lorelai walked into Chris's apartment in Boston. It was especially quiet, all the lights were turned off._

_"Chris?" She called out. She walked towards his bedroom, and opened the door. She turned around. She was in shock. There was Chris, hurriedly getting dressed and a blonde doing the same._

_"Lor! I can explain, you misunderstood!" Chris yelled running after her in the hallway. She whipped around, angry._

_"What were you doing, then? Just showing her your underwear? Were you doing a breast exam, Chris?" She turned around and walked off. He caught up with her and grabbed her shoulder, she threw his hand away. "Get the fuck away from me!" She yelled, then ran. _

He didn't run after her. She didn't know whether to be relieved, or hurt. So she was both. To be honest, her heart hadn't been in the relationship anyway. In the end, with Luke, her heart had disappeared, she still hadn't found it. Now, here she was, almost thirty-nine and still alone. She looked through the window of Luke's, there he was wiping off the counters. It was almost ten. He looked up, and for a moment they stared at each other. She smiled at him, and lifter her hand to wave. He did the same, and nodded at her.

It had been five months since they had broken up, and finally they were past it. She even occasionally stopped by for coffee or breakfast. The first few months, it was painful to her to just pass Luke's. But once they had both lived through those months, it got better- she wasn't hurt by him anymore. She hoped that they could even be friends with more time. Maybe not friends like they used to be, but still friends. She was one of the people that could get past his icy exterior. She missed his friendship, she only slightly missed him in a romantic sense. Just then, a beat-up old car pulled up in front of Luke's. She immediately recognized it. Jess. She remembered Rory telling her about visiting Jess in Philadelphia, supposedly Jess had reformed but she wouldn't believe it until she saw it.

Jess got out of his car. Stars Hollow. Why had he let himself get roped into living here again? Philly had been great, but the gallery that he had been working at had been sold, and the new owners wanted to completely change the look of the place, which had left him with a good chunk of money, but no job. Luke had convinced Andrew to give Jess a job, then begged Jess to move back.

He looked around, and spotted a lone woman with wild hair sitting at the gazebo, looking at the ground. He wondered why she looked so sad, what had happened to her to make her look so jaded. He looked closer to her, and realized he recognized her. It was Lorelai Gilmore, and despite their past treatment of each other, he felt bad for her. Although Luke made their break up sound like it was her fault, he could see that Luke had been too wrapped up in his daughter to see who Lorelai was anymore. She looked up and studied him, for a short moment, their eyes met, then he turned around to get his bag. He heaved it onto his back, shut his car door, then walked into the diner.

Luke gave a wide grin when Jess walked through the diner's door.

"You actually came!" He said happily, then walked over and gave Jess a hug, patting him on the back. He looked over Jess's shoulder to see if Lorelai was still sitting sadly on the gazebo, but she had disappeared. They broke away from each other.

"How is everything…I know after your break-up with her it was bad…" So Jess had seen Lorelai, too.

"I didn't think we'd ever see each other again, but she stops in once in a while, and from time to time we have a friendly conversation. It's better. I think that we can be friends, we could never be more after she slept with Christopher the night we broke up, but we're better." Jess smiled.

"That's good. You do have to move on from that stuff." Luke nodded in agreement.

"So," He said shifting to another subject, "Andrew said you can start tomorrow if you're ready, but you have to at least go there tomorrow so you guys can discuss what the job entails and everything. He said you could also do the job part time , if you want to go back to Stars Hollow High." Jess shook her head and gave Luke a smirk.

"Actually," he said pulling a piece of paper out of his bag, "I got my G.E.D. I wanted to surprise you." Luke grinned and took the certificate from Jess's hand.

"Wow! This is real." He paused, "I'm proud of you, Jess." Jess nodded.

"Thanks, Luke." They both were silent for a moment. "I'm kind of tired, so I think I'm going to go to sleep." Luke nodded and went back to the counter, while Jess lugged his stuff up, and set his bag by his bed. He had shipped the rest of his stuff. It was so weird to Jess, five years ago he had come here in almost the same way, but now he was changed and responsible. He was glad he had changed. He set his head on the pillow and pulled the covers over his shoulders. Then, he closed his eyes. Except he couldn't get Lorelai's face out of his head, so tragically beautiful. Like she had been through a war, and now she had to deal with all the aftermath.

Lorelai walked away from the gazebo, slowly back to her house. It was late, but she wasn't tired. After losing her heart, she couldn't quite grasp how she was feeling. She was happy, but she was sad too. Looking into Jess's eyes immediately made her realize that maybe he had changed, he looked so much softer, and his face when looking at her was almost friendly.

She robotically got ready for bed. First, she put on her pajamas, then brushed her teeth, and finally she lay down, letting her head hit the pillow. She began to think of Jess, was he back permanently? What was he doing here? She shook her head. Why was she thinking about this?

The next morning, she got up early to head out to the inn. She changed into her favorite dress that wrapped around her, with a white flowery design on the bottom. She did her make-up flawlessly, and put her favorite necklace on, a small diamond hanging just below her neck. Her father had given it to her when she turned thirty. Her mother didn't know, she just assumed that they were still ignoring each other.

She drove the Jeep to Luke's, she felt like coffee today. She was feeling so much better, now that she and Chris were done. Her heart had disappeared way before Chris. When she lost Luke. Now that they were slowly coming back into each others lives, she felt like parts of her heart were re-appearing. She sat at a small table by the window and waited for Luke to come up to her table. But it wasn't Luke. She was looking up at Jess, who immediately poured her coffee. She smiled at him, she would be friendly.

"Hey…Are you back here for good?" She asked him. He nodded.

"For awhile, at least." He said, being friendly too. They paused, looking at each other again. "Do you know what you want?" He asked, coming out of his trance. She nodded.

"Oh! Um, yeah… Can I get blueberry pancakes and a side of bacon?" She asked. He nodded. She sat quietly for the twenty minutes her food cooked. Jess watched her, she looked so pensive, and so different from when he had last seen her. She looked jaded, like the world had finally got to her, but still warm and funny like she used to be. She had the same spark, but more real. Finally, Cesar called "Order Up!" And Jess took Lorelai's plate before Luke got to it, and served it to her.

"Miss Gilmore." He said in a waiterly voice. She smiled and laughed a little.

"Mr. Mariano." They paused.

"I saw you on the gazebo last night." He said, softer.

"I saw you come out of your car." He sat down across from her,

"You looked sad." He stated, like he didn't need an explanation, but she could supply one if she wanted. She looked down at her food and began to pick, then she looked up at him for a moment.

"Hard couple of days." She said taking a bite of her pancakes. "My boyfriend was cheating on me." She added, for some reason it felt good to just say it and he was so easy to talk to.

"That's really tough." He said. "I'm sorry. You've had a hard couple of months, haven't you?" She nodded.

"I have…How could you tell?"

"You look different than I remember you, good different, but also like you've been dealing with a lot of shit for awhile."

"Yeah. You look different too, like you have a grasp on life." He smiled, and she smiled back. How could she read him so well?

"I do. After all these years."

"After all these years." She repeated, they were staring closely into each others eyes when a customer called for Jess.

"Come for dinner. I'm working at the bookstore, but I'm working here at the dinner rush." He said. And she wanted to come, somehow she felt a hunger for more Jess. She didn't know why.

Luke stared at Lorelai and Jess, they looked so different than how they used to interact. They were friendly. There was almost a romantic spark.


	2. Run With Me

A/N: Thanks for the feedback, guys! I always want more!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Gilmore Girls characters.

Lorelai came for dinner. She was excited. Strangely, really excited. Not for the dinner part, but she wanted to see Jess. She sat down at a small table by the window. It was seven, he would be here, right? She was giddy.

Jess wanted her to come. He had thought about it all day. He thought about what she might say, what she might wear, would she order a burger? He put more gel in his hair. He wore his Metallica t-shirt, did she still like Metallica? Finally, at seven, when he didn't think she was going to come, she walked through the door. He waited a moment, then walked over to her table.

"You came." He said smirking. She looked up to him, grinned, and nodded.

"I came." They stared into each other's eyes.

"So…Do you still eat like an insane person?" She laughed.

"Luke had to leave the room when Rory and I had our pancake eating fest." Jess laughed.

"So I'm going to guess you want a burger and fries?"

"Extra grease, light on the healthy." He smiled, put her order in, then walked back to the table, handing her a mug with coffee. It was pretty quiet. Luke was at April's clarinet concert, besides Lorelai, there was only one customer. He sat down across from her. She sipped on her coffee.

"What have you been doing, Jess? All these years…" She said softly. He took a deep breath.

"For a long time I worked in New York, but I lost a lot of jobs. I was irresponsible, and I just didn't care. I moved to Philly, and things started changing." He paused for a moment, she looked up to him.

"You changed." She said studying his face. He nodded.

"I did. I started taking responsibility, I wrote a book, for the first time, I wanted to be successful." Lorelai listened to him intently, hanging onto his words, searching for meaning in his face. "The gallery changed my life. Towards the end, I was part-owner."

"The end?" She asked. He nodded sadly.

"Someone gave us an offer we couldn't refuse. We were all pretty poor entrepreneurs, so the money they offered us seemed like a good trade-off. Except for the fact that I wound up moving back here." She smiled.

"Maybe moving back here won't be as bad as you think it will be." He looked up at her.

"No one in this town is very fond of me." Lorelai shook her head.

"I like you." She said.

"I like you, too." He replied. They sat quietly for a moment. "So…Tell me about the past few years for you." He said nervously.

"Well… I guess they've been good and bad. The Dragonfly, my inn, is the best thing that's ever happened to me. It keeps me busy, but I love every moment I spend in it. It was my dream for so long. Now, it's real… It's been three years and I'm still in shock." She paused. "Then there was uh, Luke…But, you know how that ended. Things are pretty rocky for me now." She said softly, not as happy.

"Chris?" He said. She nodded.

"I was never in love with him, but it was still just a shock. I was kind of relieved, but I just feel like the last few months have taken such a toll on me. I've been so…unsure."

"I understand." He said. Cesar brought over her burger and she quietly started to eat. "Lorelai?" Jess asked. Lorelai looked up and nodded.

"Yeah?" She said. He shook his head.

"Never mind." She put the burger down.

"Tell me what you were going to say!" She demanded, with burger still in her mouth. They both burst into laughter as some of the burger in her mouth landed on her plane.

"Lovely." He paused. "Okay… Do you want to see me tomorrow?" He asked. She smiled.

"Yeah, Jess… I'd like that." She tilted her head. "As friends, right?" He nodded, they stared into each other's eyes.

"As friends." He repeated. "Meet me at the bookstore at lunch. Andrew's pretty flexible about lunch breaks."

"Okay." She said. They sat quietly, then began talking again. Luke came in during the middle of their conversation, and he watched them laugh and talk from the counter. He sighed and shook his head, Jess was making a mistake, something was happening between them and Luke didn't like it.

Luke watched as Lorelai walked out, Jess got up, and grabbed her cup and plate. He put them in the sink, then leaned against the counter next to Luke.

"What are you doing, Jess?" Luke asked, turning to him. Jess shook his head.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jess asked.

"You know who I'm talking about. Lorelai, Jess. You two are suddenly being so friendly?"

"She's a good person, and she looks so sad lately…She needs a friend, I'm a friend." Jess paused. "A casual friend." He added. Luke shook his head.

"Okay, Jess… Don't do anything stupid." Luke said. Jess sighed and walked away from Luke, up the stairs, and straight to his bed. He knew what he was doing. Luke knew what he was doing. He was pretty sure Lorelai did, too.

Lorelai walked home, wondering what was happening. She and Jess were friends, just friends. Already, just their friendship had complications. He had dated her daughter. He was Luke's niece. She changed into her Hello Kitty pajamas and tried to just think about the simplicity of her new friendship. Friend. Jess.

It was so weird to her how she used to hate Jess and now she was thinking about Jess like…like a friend. Just a friend. Nothing more. Her head hurt from thinking so hard.

The next morning Lorelai woke up, and opened her closet, searching frantically for something to wear. Something that would look good, that would last until lunchtime. Finally, she picked out a silk red lace tank top with a black sweater over it, and a short black skirt. She did her hair so it looked long and curly. She looked good, like she was ready for work and ready for…whatever else. None of this was for Jess.

It took forever for lunchtime to come. As soon as it hit noon, Jess looked towards the door every time it opened. He waited for Lorelai to walk in. When she did, he got even more excited. He was attracted to her. He was…He liked her. A lot. He took a deep breath, she looked gorgeous. What was he thinking? There couldn't be anything between him. Yet, he found himself thinking of romantic things he could say to her.

"Hi." She said, walking towards him. He stood up.

"Hey… I have the perfect place for lunch." He said, as they walked out of the bookstore.

"If it's Luke's, then I'm not surprised….But I'm kind of not in the mood for a burger." He grinned.

"I thought so… He picked up a picnic basket, hidden behind a bench and started to walk east.

"Jess?" She laughed. "Where are you going?" She asked. He shook his head.

"You're just going to have to find out, Gilmore…Live in the moment." She laughed again.

"Fine, but if you're leading me to a plane full of snakes or any other kind of Samuel L. Jackson situation, then please count me out." Jess looked over to her.

"Dually noted." He said. Finally, they stood on the bridge over the frozen lake. Jess sat down, his legs crossed. She looked down at Jess.

"We're on the bridge." She said. "This is where we eat?" He nodded.

"C'mon…Just try it, Lorelai…You might even enjoy it." She sighed, then sat down across from him, taking a taco out of the picnic basket.

"I wish it would snow." She said suddenly. "It's so cold, but there's still no snow. Snow is magical."

"I remember….You like snow." She smiled and nodded.

"Yeah…I'm sure you're like Luke and hate the snow." He shook his head.

"Actually, winter is probably my favorite season. I don't exactly think that it's magical, but it's pretty." He said. "I like the mood it gives to the world, to people like you- happy, sweet people." He paused. "I love how you find beauty in things like snow." She genuinely smiled.

"So…Jess Mariano has a soft side, who knew?" He looked down, then looked up at her.

"Very few people…You've just joined a very, very, small club." She smiled at him.

"I'm glad to be in it." They looked up at each other, Lorelai stole a glance at him, then looked back down at her taco. Jess did the same. They stared into each other's eyes. Jess leaned in closer to Lorelai, she leaned in closer to Jess, then slowly, their lips touched.

"Jess…" she whispered. He leaned in and kissed her again, she kissed him back. She pulled away from him, then leaned back into his lips. "Jess... I don't know if we should…" They kissed again, they kissed harder, more intense.

A/N: Please review!


	3. The Coffee's never Strong enough

A/N: Hope this isn't too weird of a chapter for you guys…I wrote it on a plane, and there's less oxygen…Just kidding, I think.

Btw, if two of you readers guess which part I wrote while listening to "Ms. New Booty" I'll try to write the next chapter a little earlier. (I usually listen to indie- don't judge!)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Gilmore Girls characters.

"Jess…" She muttered once more. She gently placed her hands on her chest, and moved her body away from his. "We can't." Jess shook his head and leaned towards her again, she pulled farther away. "Please…" She whispered. He nodded.

"Why? Why is this so bad, why can't we do this? If it feels good, if there's a connection…" He said, a little annoyed.

"Because…There's fourteen years between us, and I dated your uncle, and you dated my daughter. If you took away the uncle and daughter part, we'd be at my place by now- but it's just complicated." Lorelai explained, turning her head away from.

"Fuck all of those things, Lorelai. Who the hell needs to know? Can't we try this before we figure out if it's going to be too complicated or not?" She stood up, and shook her head.

"I have a daughter, Jess. I have to look out for Rory." She said softly.

"Screw family loyalty." He muttered. Families. Now, not only was his own family a problem, but if felt like all families were betraying him. She didn't look back. Lorelai sighed, what had she been thinking? It was all absurd- Jess was so young, and he had a history with her daughter. Then she thought back to how good it had felt. Really good. His kisses had been mind-blowing, in fact. Just thinking about him in….No.

It had been days since Jess had seen Lorelai. He didn't think that she would have the self control to stay away from good coffee for so long, but, just like in her past performances- she had proved him wrong. After a full shift at the bookstore, Jess worked at Lukes. During a lull, right before the diner closed, Luke turned to Jess.

"I haven't seen your buddy Lorelai lately." He said.

"I thought you were friends with her, too." Jess shot back.

"I'm trying, Jess." Luke said, sounding less annoyed, and more like the rational Luke Jess knew- Lorelai had obviously hurt Luke a lot. "It's just hard… I wanted to make it work, I was going to marry her, and she sleeps with Chris before I have a chance to even tell her all of this." Maybe Lorelai had been right, it seemed they all shared a lot of baggage.

"Well…I haven't seen her." He said, not wanting to have a "guy talk" with Luke about Lorelai. Thinking about her made him crazy, she pissed him off, but he was attracted to her all the same.

"What was the whole friendship thing between you two, anyway?" Luke asked.

"There's no 'friendship thing' between us." Jess said defensively. "I haven't seen or heard from her in days. We talked sometimes. That was it." Luke sighed.

"You have yet to prove that to me." Luke said walking to the door and switching the sign from 'open' to 'close.' Before Jess could say anything, Luke walked upstairs, and left Jess leaning against the counter. Jess sat at a stool, and thought for a long time. Lorelai thought like he did, she could be rational, she could be intelligent, but she was known for her recklessness, just like he was. The only difference that they had was the way they spoke. She talked cautiously, articulately. He spoke quickly, he didn't think. Had he pissed her off when he spoke to her like that at the bridge?

Lorelai walked through the town slowly, thinking about that day on the bridge. _"Fuck all those things."_ He had said to her. He made it sound so easy, she wished so bad that she could believe him. She was about to pass the diner, Lorelai peered through the windows and made eye contact with the kisser himself. He opened the door, and walked next to her.

"I'm sorry." He said. She stopped and faced him. She crossed the street, motioning for him to follow. They were in the gazebo. He could barely remember the walk over there. His head was spinning. She forgot how to speak, '_how do the words come out?'_ Lorelai pondered as she stared into his eyes. The intensity between Lorelai and Jess had escalated in a matter of minutes. '_More importantly,' _she wondered _'how do you make sure the words really get through?'_ Finally she spoke.

"How is this supposed to work, Jess?" He thought for a moment, then shook his head in defeat.

"I don't know…But Lorelai, if I see you….Like right now…All I want to do is kiss you." She looked closely into his eyes.

"Why? I mean, we've known each other for barely a week, and this comes out if it? This feeling of lust and desire? How can it be real?" She asked. He took a moment to let the truth of her words sink into him.

"We'll only know if we try." He paused. "And we've known each other for a lot longer than a week. This is just the first time we've actually liked each other."

"We're in the same place we were three days ago." She stated. He shook his head.

"No we aren't. I realize there are complications, but I want this, and you want this, I know you want this, Lorelai."

"I need to think." She whispered. He leaned close to her and took her hand in his.

"Can't you just let this happen?" He asked her, looking deep into her eyes. She wanted to, so badly she was about to kiss him.

"I need to think." She repeated, standing up and walking away from him, just like she had three days ago. He wanted to chase after her, but he was too dumbfounded. How was this happening?

Lorelai sat at the inn, sipping coffee at one of the tables in the dining room. The night before, with Jess…It had been too surreal for her. Amazing, but not enough. Their attraction wasn't enough. There had to be some kind of sense in their chemistry. She was trying to find it, so she could finish that kiss on the bridge, but there was no sense, it was non-existent. She took another sip of coffee, then looked towards the lobby, hearing the bell of the door ring. It was Rory, they had lunch plans. She grinned falsely at Rory, she loved her daughter so much, but she was such a hindrance to her being with Jess.

"Hey!" She said, standing up and kissing her daughter on the cheek.

"Ugh…I don't want to go back to school tonight." Rory said as they sat down. "School and work have been really overwhelming. And with Logan gone...I miss him so much." Lorelai nodded understandingly.

"It's tough on you guys, huh?" She asked.

"Like you wouldn't believe." Rory replied. "I mean, although I hate to admit this- Mitchum had a point, Logan seems a lot more responsible and grown up, he needed this. On the other hand, I just want him to come home and be the same old crazy Logan." She sighed. "I just want to be with my boyfriend."

"I understand." Lorelai said, feeling bad for pegging Rory as the reason she an Jess couldn't make sense. Rory shrugged at her mother and smiled.

"How are you? You explained the whole Dad situation very simply the other night. I am so mad at him, Mom." She said. Lorelai shook her head and gave her daughter her most convincing smile.

"I'm fine… These things happen. I should've known it was going to be like this from the start." Rory nodded, then titled her head in concern for her mother.

"You don't deserve this, Mom." She said. Lorelai thought about that for a moment.

"I don't…Not at all." She said, feeling an epiphany.

"Really, something better will come along. You deserve someone who is going to make you giddy." Lorelai nodded, Rory had hit the nail right on the head. She deserved to be happy. She deserved Jess. Fuck the rest. Just like Jess had said, that stuff didn't even matter.

"I do! I deserve that person." She looked up at Derick and grinned.

"The lamb chops." She said, finally figuring out the sense in it all, so simple.

Later that night, she stopped at Luke's. She made it a point Jess saw her, and he immediately walked over to her table.

"Come to my house tonight." She said, giving him a smirk.

"Would you like fries with that?" He replied. She laughed. This could work. He did show up to her house, she let him in. And when they got inside? She kissed him with all the intensity and passion she had. They pulled away for a moment, then she lead him to her room. The door slammed shut.


End file.
